Update: video link added below at 730PM PST (H/T to Joe S.)
From C-SPAN, Click for video player
When you watch this video it is clear Ms. Boxer does not have any interest in listening to what Dr. Spencer had to say, nor does she apparently care that she just insulted him on national television. Ms. Boxer, have you no shame?
From the Rush Limbaugh show, some sparks flew when Boxer beclowns herself at the end of Dr. Roy Spencer’s testimony. (Link to testimony here)
Excerpt-
Limbaugh transcript: I’m going to make Barbara Boxer the official clown of the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. Can you believe this? Folks, I can’t tell you how much I wish my mom and dad were alive to see all of this. To have a brilliant and independent scientist, a former NASA scientist, be insulted simply because he has an association, a tongue-in-cheek association. We don’t have an official climatologist here. I just know Dr. Spencer and I learn from him. He’s a scientist, a scientist that we all know and love and trust here. He’s written a great book about global warming, and these snide little Democrats, these little liberals just have to go, eh, eh, eh. Dr. Spencer is now going to be more famous than he ever thought he would be. (laughing) Can you believe this? “I just want everybody to make sure they know what’s really happening.” What’s really happening, Senator Boxer? What’s really happening? (laughing) “I just wanted to point that out for people to understand.” Yeah, like I wrote his testimony, I wrote his talking points, I even had a secret wireless communication in his ear. I was answering questions they were asking. (laughing) And Obama says there’s going to be unity.
Transcript follows:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_072208/content/01125107.guest.html
At Hearing, Official EIB Clown Attacks Official EIB Climatologist
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The official climatologist of the EIB Network, Dr. Roy Spencer, a brilliant independent climatologist and scientist, former NASA, he’s now at University of Alabama at Huntsville, testified before Senator Boxer’s committee on climate change research, and they had the following exchange.
SPENCER: In conclusion, I am predicting today that the theory that mankind is mostly responsible for global warming will slowly fade away in the coming years, as will the warming itself, and I trust you would agree, Madam Chair, that such a result deserves to be greeted with relief. That concludes my testimony, and I’d be willing to answer any questions.
BOXER: Okay. I also want to point out on that on your own blog you said you never were told you couldn’t speak about your scientific views. And lastly, I guess is a certain congratulations, Rush Limbaugh referred to you as the official climatologist of the Rush Limbaugh Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
SPENCER: Yeah, that’s tongue-in-cheek reference.
BOXER: Right. But I just want to point that out for people to understand. I just want to make sure everybody knows what’s really happening.
RUSH: Oh, my, poor Dr. Spencer! Poor Dr. Spencer! Barbara Boxer attempts to disqualify his expertise by linking him to this program. Yes! (laughing) “I just want everybody to know what’s really happening.” What’s really happening is that, what, did I write his testimony? Did I write his opening remarks? What happened, Senator? I’m going to make Barbara Boxer the official clown of the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. Can you believe this? Folks, I can’t tell you how much I wish my mom and dad were alive to see all of this. To have a brilliant and independent scientist, a former NASA scientist, be insulted simply because he has an association, a tongue-in-cheek association. We don’t have an official climatologist here. I just know Dr. Spencer and I learn from him. He’s a scientist, a scientist that we all know and love and trust here. He’s written a great book about global warming, and these snide little Democrats, these little liberals just have to go, eh, eh, eh. Dr. Spencer is now going to be more famous than he ever thought he would be. (laughing) Can you believe this? “I just want everybody to make sure they know what’s really happening.” What’s really happening, Senator Boxer? What’s really happening? (laughing) “I just wanted to point that out for people to understand.” Yeah, like I wrote his testimony, I wrote his talking points, I even had a secret wireless communication in his ear. I was answering questions they were asking. (laughing) And Obama says there’s going to be unity.
END TRANSCRIPT
Jack,
Agreed, I would have asked directly, “Senator, what is happening?” She’s a bully and bullies need to be confronted, although Congressional Testimony is VERY intimidating, it is very hard to be aggressive in that setting (which is why I admire Ollie North so much, his response, when asked by some breathless Senator “Isn’t it true that the arms dealers you dealt with were known liars?” was, paraphrased, “Yes, Senator, it’s true, we tried to get Mother Teresa, but she was busy.”
Jeff B.
Of course, she’s a lawyer, and all lawyers are taught, 1. If you’re short on the facts, attack the law, 2. If short on the law, attack the facts, 3. If you’re short on the facts and the law, attack the person.
Senator Boxer’s tactics of “character assassination by association” were apparently learned from watching left-wing documentaries about the tactics of Senator McCarthy in the 1950s.
The left is only interested in power and control of Washington. Ethics, human decency, and honesty are invoked only when can be used towards that end.
On the previous post, I asked:
I wonder if Sen. Boxer had the guts to pay attention to the info presented here. I can hope she did, but knowing how entrenched her opinion is on AGW, I doubt it.
Question answered.
Joe S
Thank you for the link. In my humble opinion Dr Spencer made a very clear exposition of where the science is now – that there is doubt about climate sensitivity, that there is little funding going in to the examination of natural causes and that the “consensus” appears to be politically driven.
Such a testimony might cause one to wonder whether the global policy on reducing carbon emissions was the most efficacious, whether we had identified, if at all, there was a problem with climate change and indeed whether we should be re-examining the whole issue before pusuing major policy initiatives with such wide ranging consequences.
Sadly, it would appear the Chairwoman of the committee chose not to focus on such matters of importance.
I have long held the belief that the quality of political debate in the House of Commons and in Select Committees in the UK is of a standard below that we might reasonably expect – would our friends in the US concur that this is case there also?
Everyone seems to give Spencer too much credit for his paper but I hope some of that credit also goes to Richard Lindzen. Several years ago (may be a half a dozen years ago) he postulated that the clouds acted like the eye’s iris to regulate the earth’s temperature. Spencer followed up with his work on Lindzen’s theory, which by the way, was ridiculed by the AGW crowd, Seems like Lindzen may have the last laugh.
I watched most of that yesterday and saw where Boxer associated Spencer with Limbaugh. The intent of this move by Boxer in my opinion was to diminish Spencer’s credibility.
I also noticed that Spencer didn’t get much air time.
What a pathetic joke that meeting was…
As a follow up to Boxer’s attempts to embarrass Spencer regarding whether the Clinton administration muzzled climate skeptics I am reminded of Richard Lindzen’s remarks about this issue. He said many skeptics were silenced by the Clinton administration’s refusal to issue grants submitted by AGW skeptics. Unfortunately, this will go unnoticed by the public since too many people have a very short attention span.
N. O’Brain (16:32:17) : Does Botox affect the brain?
Stick the needle in far enough and it has to.
BarryW (18:34:28) : Marx took a few facts… and created Marxism. It took a hundred plus years to beat that back.
Really? Could have fooled me. Looks like that three-headed dinosaur is alive and well.
When you know the One True Way, no objection or discussion is allowed. Trials and jail terms for those who disagree. This poses a far greater danger than even the ‘solutions’ to AGW. On this blog, we don’t all agree. That’s good. We try to (or at least should) avoid attacking each other, but rather the ideas presented. Some are good, some bad. With everything laid out, we may be able to determine the truth, or at least that we don’t know the truth.
Absent that, and the bandwagon runs off the cliff.
On Kevin Trenberth, he and Josh Willis (of Hansen et al “smoking gun”) were interviewed by NPR a few months back.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88520025
These are two of the most vehement supporters of AGW, yet acknowledge something is wrong.
Keep in mind it was Trenberth after Katrina promoting the hurricane/global warming connection.
It is odd Trenberth didn’t attend or assign someone from NCAR to attend Spencer’s seminar. What could be the reason for that? Hmm?
Joe S
“I have long held the belief that the quality of political debate in the House of Commons and in Select Committees in the UK is of a standard below that we might reasonably expect – would our friends in the US concur that this is case there also?”
When was the last time a political candidate used their IQ as a campaign point? Pandering trumps intelligence by a wide margin.
It’s not “What can you do” that counts, it’s “What will you do for me?”.
I think the average IQ in DC is somewhat lower than the national average…. (Tongue in cheek).
cc of email to Senator Boxer at
https://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm
———————–
Petition: Apologize to Dr. Spencer
Senator Boxer
I respectfully submit that your caustic comment against Dr. Roy Spencer seriously demeans your office. (See text below).
You unjustly besmirched Dr. Spencer’s character when he is a courageous scientist of very high integrity. His effort to give scientific evidence redressing the political correctness of global warming is to be commended.
I petition you to redress this grievance by publicly apologizing to Dr. Spencer for your demeaning statement.
David L. Hagen, PhD
cc Dr. Spencer, Anthony Watt
“BOXER: . . .And lastly, I guess is a certain congratulations, Rush Limbaugh referred to you as the official climatologist of the Rush Limbaugh Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
SPENCER: Yeah, that’s tongue-in-cheek reference.
BOXER: Right. But I just want to point that out for people to understand. I just want to make sure everybody knows what’s really happening.”
Paul H Clark,
To me the most telling part of the YouTube video begins at the 5:00 minute thru the 6:00 minute mark where Dr. Spencer relates a story he had never told before which essentially says (my words) that from the beginning, science was shaped for an agenda. Watch that part if you have time.
Joe S (10:35:02)
Joe S,
Thank you again.
I had not perhaps focussed as much on this point as I might have.
It is certainly not beyond the bounds of man that there are machinations in the system beyond our ken.
Interesting video. Any details on the Colorado meeting with Climatologists Dr Spencer mentioned?
There is a book, from the 1980s, but still very relevant today, called “The Clustering of America.” The primary audience is marketeers, but there are many sociological insights in that book.
If one were to deconstruct how someone like Boxer can be elected Senator, in terms of the market segments mentioned in that book, two of them, “Money, Brains and Power” and “Urban Gold Coasts” figure prominently. More traditional bourgeois segments such as rural folk, and even some urban working people, are not her key battleground groups.
This says a lot, none of it good, about those who run our corporations, invest the most money, and purport to know better than the salt of the Earth.
Boxer and other Leftist dolts/boors of her ilk have quite a gift for insulting my intelligence and offending me. Her treatment of Dr. Spencer was reprehensible.
I too am appalled at Boxer’s treatment of Spencer. It’s not only indefensible, but unethical given her position as the chairman of the committee.
But what I find nearly equally offensive are the sexist, woman-hating comments of some fellow wattsupwiththat posters. You might consider that there are probably many more female readers than you know who are anti-AGW and supportive of good quality science over politics.
Oh well, I visited Jack’s climateclinic website once and was entirely unimpressed. Now I have a good reason never to visit again.
REPLY: I agree and Jack has been chastised for his remarks. – Anthony
It may be a small comfort, but it was not just women who were offended by those comments.
Spencer is too much of a gentleman, but wouldn’t it have been fun if he’d asked Boxer, “Senator, do you believe the AMO, or the PDO, has more influence on the climate?”
Maybe she’s worried that this climatologist has been too high from hanging out with Rush and
[snip – no ad hom attacks on character based on speculation]
Plus, he’s not funny.
“She’s right to cast aspersions on anyone associated with him because he’s an absolute fraud and a horrible person on all levels.”
I don’t have an opinion of Mr. Limbaugh, not being a listener, but when I hear claims such as this — a mixture of classless/clueless mendaciousness and vitriolic partisan politics — it sure doesn’t make me want to listen to anything you or anyone like you may have to say. You already said everything I’ll ever need to hear. Yes, you impressed me, although you may not care to hear precisely what my impression is.
At this link is a similar thought to mine —
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/22/channel4.ofcom
Essentially Mr. Mykura is saying that it’s the nastiness of the attack that makes for many a skeptic where there may not have been one before, and to a large degree he’s right. Mr. Mykura is the guy who runs Channel 4 in the UK. He seems a great deal smarter than Senator Boxer; at least he’s exhibited an understanding of how people react to attacks.
Retired Engineer
Really? Could have fooled me. Looks like that three-headed dinosaur is alive and well.
Didn’t say it was dead, there are always fools that believe what they want to believe regardless of reality. The major oligarchies aren’t presently using it as their justification, and it has been replaced by eco-facism as the fashionable ism with the intelligentsia. It could, of course, rear back up anytime.
“I have long held the belief that the quality of political debate in the House of Commons and in Select Committees in the UK is of a standard below that we might reasonably expect – would our friends in the US concur that this is case there also?”
“Let’s suppose that I am a member of Congress. Let us further suppose that I am
a scoundrel……Wait I repeat Myself” Mark Twain
Last year I read Twain’s biography (the newer one and I have forgotten the author’s name). Such a man. Reminds me of Ben Franklin in the pithiness of their one-liners.
And talk about being pithy! I got rather pithy at the afore mentioned female bashing!
I could say more about pithing but I will leave it at that.
Meanwhile, it is still COLD! I think this weekend I may have to put a fire in the wood stove!